Nancy Chen
Appearances
Planet Money
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
Lawmakers in Western states started to restrict how Chinese immigrants could work and live. They were banned from owning farmland or getting access to fishing grounds. State and federal legislation also made it difficult, if not impossible, for Chinese men to enter interracial marriages or bring over their wives from home.
Planet Money
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
The exclusion laws also enabled an atmosphere of targeted racist violence. In what's now Wyoming and Oregon, white men massacred dozens of Chinese laborers. So Chinese immigrants left the U.S. in large numbers. And of course, there were very few new Chinese migrants.
Planet Money
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
Here's what Nancy means. She found that the white male labor supply in the West was reduced by 28 percent. Basically, in places that Chinese immigrants vacated, white workers also left. And there weren't enough new workers moving from eastern states to fill the gap.
Planet Money
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
Overall, Nancy says the numbers suggest that the Chinese Exclusion Act was a drag on economic growth in the Western U.S. until at least 1940. The act wasn't repealed until 1943. That's after China joined the Allies in World War II. Nancy says her research on the Chinese Exclusion Act shows the danger of enacting wide-sweeping policies.
Planet Money
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
The legislation wasn't explicitly a deportation program, but it did lead to Chinese immigrants leaving the U.S. in large numbers. The law had far-reaching consequences that Nancy says weren't anticipated by lawmakers.
Planet Money
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
And Chinese immigrants arrived in the West in two big waves, first during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, and then to build the Transcontinental Railroad about a decade later. The new arrivals were mostly working-age, able-bodied men. Nancy Chen is a professor of economics at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.